The update introduces cross-platform play, allowing players across all of these platforms to play together. It also brings the Xbox One and Switch versions into the Bedrock Engine family for the game. Saved data, purchased content, and world progress will transfer over from the older versions of Minecraft to the new one. "It lets you play your Realm on console (for example), hop off, then pick up where you left off on your phone," the blog post says.

The Better Together Updates also brings with it plenty of new features, tweaks and bug fixes, like the introduction of parrots, banners, armour stands, redesigned button mapping, the ability to mute chat messages, and various improvements to the user interface.

A version of Minecraft was released for the New Nintendo 3DS platform on September 13th. This version is not part of the "Better Together Update", and is missing some features familiar to Minecraft users (multiplayer is not in the New 3DS launch release, but is planned.) According to Mojang, "This edition's closest equivalent is 0.15.4 of Minecraft: Pocket Edition". In IGN's review of Minecraft: New Nintendo 3DS Edition, reviewer Seth Macy said, "Minecraft is still as fun as ever on the New 3DS, but fails to live up to the standard of its many other versions."

Alex Gilyadov is a freelance writer for IGN. Be sure to check out his YouTube channel and follow him on Twitter.